AWS Study Notes
Overview
Study notes for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) and Professional (SAP) certification exams, plus general software architecture concepts applicable to real-world practice.
Notes are organized by domain. Each note follows a consistent structure: Overview → Key Features → Exam Tips → Cross-Cloud Equivalents.
The Potato
Fred Cheung · @CookedRicer
Software Developer · AWS Community Builder · AWS UGHK
Storage
Amazon EBS
Block storage for EC2 — gp3, io2, st1, sc1 volume types and use cases.
Amazon S3
Object storage — storage classes, lifecycle, versioning, replication, and Object Lock.
Amazon EFS and FSx
Managed file storage — EFS (NFS), FSx for Windows/Lustre/NetApp ONTAP, and storage protocol reference.
AWS Storage Gateway
Hybrid cloud storage bridge — S3 File, FSx File, Volume (Cached/Stored), and Tape Gateway.
Database
Amazon RDS and Aurora
Managed relational databases — Multi-AZ HA, Read Replicas, and Aurora cloud-native architecture.
Amazon DynamoDB and DocumentDB
NoSQL databases — DynamoDB key-value/document model and DocumentDB (MongoDB-compatible).
Amazon ElastiCache
In-memory caching — Redis vs Memcached, caching strategies, and cluster modes.
Amazon Timestream
Serverless time-series database — IoT metrics, monitoring data, and purpose-built SQL functions.
Analytics
Amazon Redshift
Cloud data warehouse — MPP architecture, distribution styles, Spectrum, and Serverless.
Amazon Athena
Serverless SQL on S3 — Presto-based, pay-per-scan, Glue Catalog integration, and Federated Query.
Amazon Kinesis and Managed Flink
Real-time data streaming — KDS, Firehose, and stateful stream processing with Apache Flink.
AWS Glue
Serverless ETL and Data Catalog — Crawlers, Spark ETL jobs, Glue Studio, and DataBrew.
Architecture Concepts
Disaster Recovery Strategies
RTO/RPO fundamentals and DR patterns — Backup & Restore through Multi-Site Active/Active.
Database Performance Fundamentals
Core performance metrics — IOPS, throughput, WAL, and OLTP vs OLAP workload models.